Yes, Organic Farmers Can Feed the World--BBC Report from England

Organic farming can 'feed the world' by BBC Science's Corinne Podger
-September 14, 1999

Organic farming could produce enough food to feed large populations,
according
to British scientists at the Festival of Science in Sheffield.

It may be environmentally friendly, but advocates of modern intensive farming
methods say that "going organic" will not produce enough food to feed large
populations.
Lower yields still profitable
But the British team say the lower yields from organic farms can still be
profitable once the savings on chemical additives such as fertilisers and
machinery are taken into account. And they say organic farming could be
viable
even in developing countries if the political climate is favourable.
In developed countries, organic food is increasingly in demand. It is
perceived

by many as being healthier, and free from chemical residues from pesticides
and

fertilisers.
Although organic farms achieve only 60 to 80% of the yield of high intensity
conventional farms, some of these losses can be offset against savings on
expensive fertilisers and insecticides.
Organic farms economically viable


Could organic crops feed the world?
Most organic farms in countries like Britain and the United States are still
fairly small in size. Dr Liz Stockdale, of the Institute of Arable Crop
Research
in England, believes organic farms could be economically viable on a much
larger
scale, even in developing countries with large populations.
"In less developed countries, countries where the conventional agricultural
systems aren't that intensive to start with, we can see that conventional
systems and organic systems actually can match yields very closely," she said.
Dr Stockdale says this is because conventional farms in poorer countries tend
to
use less expensive machinery and chemicals, putting them more on a par with
organic systems.
Growing the right crops
But she says the lower yields of organic farms in any country could be
greatly
increased as scientists learn more about controlling insects and disease
without
chemicals, and find the right crops to suit a particular region's pests and
climate.
"One of the main problems isn't getting the total yield, it's getting
marketable
yield, yield that consumers are quite happy to buy. And that's because
quite a
bit of that crop is damaged by pests or disease, just on the surface but not
affecting the quality for eating, but the way it looks".
"So just improving ways of trapping pests is the one that makes us money."
But Dr Stockdale says farmers can do only so much in producing enough food to
feed the world; governments have a role to play as well.
Conventional farms, she says, often produce too much food - leading to
produce
being grown for human consumption in Western countries frequently being fed
to
animals.
Until governments tackle the social and political factors involved in poverty
and effective food distribution, she says, millions of people will continue
to
go hungry.
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